2024-04-30T05:38:49-04:00 https://archinect.com/news/article/142916001/beijing-s-latest-airpocalypse-is-bad-enough-for-city-to-issue-first-ever-red-alert Amelia Taylor-Hochberg 2015-12-08T18:34:00-05:00 >2015-12-08T18:34:10-05:00 <img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/5q/5qk1zuqfuusyz14d.jpg?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=1200" border="0" /><em><p>A red alert should go into effect if there is a prediction that the air quality index will stay above 200 for more than 72 hours. The United States government rates above 200 as &ldquo;very unhealthy,&rdquo; and 301 to 500 as &ldquo;hazardous.&rdquo; At 7 p.m. Monday, the Beijing municipal reading was 253. [...] At international climate change talks, including the ones now underway in Paris, Chinese officials have promised to curb coal use in order to address both air pollution and carbon dioxide emissions.</p></em><br /><br /><p>More from Beijing:</p><ul><li><a title="Beijing's challenges to become the center of Jing-Jin-Ji &mdash; a supercity of 130 million people" href="http://archinect.com/news/article/132349164/beijing-s-challenges-to-become-the-center-of-jing-jin-ji-a-supercity-of-130-million-people" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Beijing's challenges to become the center of Jing-Jin-Ji &mdash; a supercity of 130 million people</a></li><li><a title="The tiny village library that draws Beijingers in droves" href="http://archinect.com/news/article/131258946/the-tiny-village-library-that-draws-beijingers-in-droves" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The tiny village library that draws Beijingers in droves</a></li><li><a title='Beijing mayor says air pollution makes his city "unlivable"' href="http://archinect.com/news/article/119439038/beijing-mayor-says-air-pollution-makes-his-city-unlivable" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Beijing mayor says air pollution makes his city "unlivable"</a></li><li><a title="China considering drastic ban on coal" href="http://archinect.com/news/article/107557388/china-considering-drastic-ban-on-coal" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">China considering drastic ban on coal</a></li></ul>